7 ‘Sound of Music’ Filming Spots You Can Visit in Salzburg

Ever since Maria von Trapp twirled throughout the Austrian Alps within the opening scene of “The Sound of Music,” the film musical has claimed its place as one of the crucial beloved movies of all time. It gained 5 Academy Awards in 1965, and its sweeping surroundings now attracts an estimated 300,000 visitors to Salzburg annually, all desirous to experience that silver display screen magic for themselves.

Premiering on March 2, 1965, the movie’s legacy has endured for greater than six many years and is marking its 61st anniversary this week. With indelible songs like “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favourite Issues,” and “Edelweiss,” that includes music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, the movie tailored the duo’s Tony-winning 1959 Broadway musical, itself primarily based on the real-life Maria von Trapp’s 1948 memoir, “The Story of the Trapp Household Singers.” Although set in opposition to the shadow of World Struggle II, the story continues to resonate throughout generations.

“Our film is among the many high causes that vacationers come to Salzburg … and it is easy to really feel that you’ve got been transported again in time and into our movie,” Julie Andrews, the star of the movie, mentioned within the 2015 documentary “The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg.” “Each nook that you simply flip, there’s one thing stunning to see.”

For me, rising up in an immigrant family, “The Sound of Music” was one of many few American classics that crammed our dwelling. My sister and I choreographed our personal model of “So Lengthy, Farewell,” and I as soon as sang “Sixteen Happening Seventeen” at an area vocal competitors. The chorus from “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” adopted me into maturity — I even printed it on a yoga mat as a reminder.

In 2012, my private nostalgia for the movie led me to ebook a European journey with two pals with one aim: hint Maria and her youngsters’s footsteps by way of Salzburg. We signed up for the unique four-hour “The Sound of Music” tour with Panorama Excursions, indulged in The Sound of Salzburg dinner present, and tracked down as many filming areas as we might on our personal.

In honor of its anniversary week, I am merely remembering just a few of my favourite issues: the very best “The Sound of Music” filming areas in and round Salzburg.

Nonnberg Abbey

When the movie’s location scouts first visited the Benedictine abbey the place the true Maria von Trapp as soon as lived, they dismissed it of their notes as a “drab, uninteresting pile of stucco,” Andrews recalled within the documentary. However when Andrews filmed there in Could 1964, her perspective shifted. She mentioned she might “really feel a way of tranquility that should have so appealed to the lady I used to be enjoying.”

I felt it, too. The abbey sits on the finish of a steep highway within the foothills of the Festungsberg, faraway from the bustle of Salzburg’s Previous City. I arrived round midday, effectively exterior the nuns’ common choir schedule—day by day at 6:45 a.m. and once more round 5 p.m.—and assumed the grounds can be quiet. I assumed my creativeness was working slightly too wild after I thought I heard singing. However as my pals and I made eye contact, we realized we had stumbled upon an unannounced session, proving that the sound of music does certainly float by way of Salzburg.

Residenzplatz Sq.’s Residence Fountain

This central Previous City sq., designed by Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi, hosts all the pieces from concert events to sporting occasions and festivals, together with its annual Christmas market. On the coronary heart of it’s the Residence Fountain, a Baroque work by Italian sculptor Tommaso di Garone, that includes 4 horses and three dolphins.

Within the movie, Maria and the kids sprint by way of the sq. whereas studying “Do-Re-Mi,” and he or she trails her hand by way of the fountain in “I Have Confidence.” And you’ll wager I reached into the waters to attempt to make a splash too throughout my Salzburg go to.

Mirabell Palace and Gardens

Maybe probably the most recognizable of Salzburg’s filming areas, Mirabell Palace and Gardens set the stage for the ultimate stretch of “Do-Re-Mi.” The palace dates to 1606, and in 1690 the geometric gardens have been reshaped by Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach,  giving it a stately grandeur.

That patterned backdrop frames one of many movie’s most exuberant sequences: Maria main the von Trapp youngsters on their first free-wheeling journey by way of Salzburg. They march across the Pegasus Fountain, hop up and down the Rose Backyard steps, and faucet the pinnacle of one of many 17 dwarf statues carved from Untersberg marble.

Schloss Leopoldskron

As a child, I all the time envied the von Trapps’ yard. It was so huge that it got here with its personal lake to tumble into from a rowboat. That out of doors scene, together with the entire dwelling’s exterior pictures, was filmed on the terrace of Schloss Leopoldskron. At the moment, the 18th-century palace operates as a historic boutique lodge, with 12 suites in the principle palace and 55 rooms within the renovated Meierhof. Andrews referred to as it her favourite filming location.

In-built 1736, the 17-acre property offered the backdrop for a number of the movie’s most dramatic moments: the kids studying the Baroness would develop into their stepmother, Maria returning after fleeing to the abbey, and, in fact, Gretl asserting that her finger had been caught between Friedrich’s tooth.

Felsenreitschule

One of the vital underappreciated characters within the movie must be Frau Schweiger, the performer who cannot cease bowing as she accepts her music pageant prize. My sister and I used to rely each bow out loud, then imitate her dramatic flourish ourselves. That area of interest devotion is what led me to hunt out the Felsenreitschule, which interprets to “Rock Driving College,” the place the scene was filmed.

Designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and accomplished in 1633, the venue later grew to become a 1,437-seat efficiency area for the Salzburg Competition starting in 1926. Its defining characteristic is the wall of 96 arches carved instantly into the Mönchsberg mountain. Within the movie, Nazi guards fill these stone arcades, watching the von Trapps carry out simply moments earlier than the household slips away into Switzerland.

Schloss Hellbrun Gardens

Though no scenes have been filmed on the palace grounds themselves, Schloss Hellbrunn has develop into a staple on “The Sound of Music” excursions due to the reconstructed gazebo from “Sixteen Happening Seventeen” and “One thing Good” in its gardens. The unique scenes have been shot on the 20th Century Fox lot in Los Angeles, however a replica sat within the background on the Schloss Leopoldskron grounds for the outside scenes.

After filming wrapped, town of Salzburg relocated the gazebo to those public gardens so followers might go to the movie’s most romantic setting. Guests can now not step inside, however you may pose beside it and do just a few dramatic twirls (it positively made me need to take just a few leaps like Liesl).  

Mondsee Basilica

About 19 miles northeast of Salzburg is the lakeside city of Mondsee, dwelling to the medieval Mondsee Basilica, based in 748. The church served because the manufacturing’s first on-location set, internet hosting the marriage scene of Maria and Georg on April 23, 1964, with 600 locals filling the pews as extras. At the moment, the basilica stays a sought-after wedding ceremony venue, with the parish internet hosting as many as eight ceremonies a day, based on the church’s priest.

A lot of that attraction stems from how they captured the area on movie. Within the documentary particular, Julie Andrews recalled being struck by the profile pictures that adopted her down the aisle. “Every stunning archway was captured,” she mentioned. “I feel he did the basilica proud.